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What is a Grip Contest

A Grip Contest involves one or more individual events. When contests have more than one event, the competitors attempt to maximize their performance in each event to accumulate points which will determine the Overall or Weight Class standings.

Below are descriptions of many of the events that are often included in Grip Sport competitions:

Crushing Grip – Closing the fingers in towards the palm, like making a fist. In Grip Sport, this is usually tested by using heavy rated hand grippers.

Pinch Grip – Lifting an object with the thumb opposing fingers. In Grip Sport this is often tested in the two-hand pinch, using an adjustable apparatus

Support Grip – Wrapping the fingers statically around an implement and either lifting it off the ground or holding it off the ground for time. This is often contested using barbells, axles, vertical bars, or other implements.

Vertical Grip - A variation of supporting, this involves taking a grip where the wrist is bent in order to pick up an implement that is positioned vertically. Examples include Vertical Bars, Anvils & Anvil Horns, Jug Lifts, etc.

Wrist Events – Many events test the strength of the wrist or forearms, including wrist rollers or leverage devices, such as sledgehammers, loadable pickaxes, and other similar implements.

Medleys – These are a combination of multiple disciplines into one event that requires well-rounded grip strength in order to be successful, as well as grip endurance and speed. Medleys can have as few as 5 or up to 20+ challenges that must be completed within a time limit. Often it is necessary to lift an item to the lockout position or onto a platform.

Bending – Steel bars, nails or bolts are wrapped with protective coverings and are then bent with either braced or non-braced techniques. In most cases, steel bending is done as part of a Medley, but there are also competitions where the competitors must bend steel in one or more events.

Tearing - This is another type of strength feat that is sometimes included as part of a Medley, where the athlete must rip a phone book or tear a deck of cards, making for an intense challenge for the lifter and a very exciting spectacle for the audience.

Feats of Strength – Since Grip Sports origins go back to the times when performing strongmen were very common. Feats include card tearing, frying pan rolling, phone book ripping, bending horse-shoes and wrenches and other classic strongman feats. This can also include lifting renowned challenge implements such as the Thomas Inch replica dumbbell, the 50-lb blob, scale weights, anvils, and other odd objects.